The disasters of recent years indicate that communities and individuals are getting increasingly vulnerable and risks are progressively growing. Nonetheless, the need to reduce risks and vulnerabilities are often ignored up until the occurrence of disasters. In the study at hand, which was done based on the descriptive-analytical method, it was tried to examine and predict the vulnerability perspective of the areas located within District six of Ahvaz metropolis during a potential earthquake based on the main purpose of this study. The theoretical data of the study was collected through library research method. After the extraction of the related indices, the spatial analysis of each index was carried out through fuzzy Delphi method, IHWP vulnerability model, and GIS software analyses. The analysis of the findings illustrated that considering the first and second priorities of the crises management, 15.03 percent of all areas of the district under study are highly vulnerable to earthquake. That is to say, in case of a strong earthquake in the district, they will be vulnerable. The study concluded that the physical qualities of the building are as important as the factors such as land use, population density, and time of earthquake occurrence. These have all effective roles in the vulnerability rate and the rescue activities.

The purpose of this study was examining the course of development of Qazvin urban area in order to optimize the decisions of related authorities to enhance sustainable spatial efficiency and exploitation. Through a meta-analysis, four urban area perspectives were extracted, including natural-cultural, administrative-political, functional, and communicative. This was then followed by a theoretical conclusion. GIS spatial statistics were used for the analysis purposes. The results indicated the presence of only the physical and political perspective. The administrative-political perspective of urban area (as the only formal area) and functional urban area (only in an informal manner) were identified as the urban perspectives of Qazvin. The investigation of the natural-cultural perspective of Qazvin urban area led to the identification of southern Alborz area, which based on water resources approximately conforms to the political borders of Qazvin province. Due to its use as a crossroads, this area does not have cultural coherence, and its closeness to the political capital of Iran has made its environmental conditions critical and has changed the role of this area. To solve these problems, it is suggested that first an ecological planning is done as the basis of spatial planning and development decisions. Moreover, due to the cultural inconsistency of Qazvin area, it is suggested to adopt creation of identity through regional governance. Moreover, the economic areas resulting from functionally connected areas should be enhanced and directed in the light of the ecological conditions of the area. Although the application of neo-regionalism viewpoint at transnational level is not possible due to the specific political conditions of Iran, its application in regional and local levels seems to be unavoidable in order to reduce ecologic crisis (water resources) and enhance identity creation in Qazvin urban area.

The vulnerability appraisal is one of the prerequisites of risk analysis in disaster management. Vulnerability to earthquake, especially in urban areas, has increased over years due to the existence of complex urban structures and rapid development. In order to take preemptive measures and reduce the damages of earthquake, the determination of vulnerable areas and implementation of necessary measures seem inevitable. Accordingly, the present study set out to examine the vulnerability of Tehran urban blocks via a location-base model. To attain this objective, first the criteria effective on the evaluation of earthquake vulnerability were divided into three groups, namely exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation capability (16 location criteria in general). Using the expert opinions and network analysis model, the importance of each of the criteria was determined. Fuzzy functions and ordered weighted averaging method were used to normalize the criteria map and develop vulnerability maps under various scenarios. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the criteria was carried out. The results showed that vulnerable population density and average slope were the criteria with the most and least importance, respectively. The vulnerability maps demonstrated that the areas to the north of the area under study are in the vulnerable class under all scenarios. The stability and dependability of the output results were assessed using sensitivity analysis. The results indicated that changing the weight of the criteria does not have a significant effect on the model outputs, a finding that clearly proves the stability of the model.

The topic of climate change and the dangers that lie ahead is part of the debate in land management. The dynamics of global change and the sovereign approach of global governments have opened new perspectives on land management issues. One of the hidden challenges in this regard is the increasing risk of the occurrence of floods. The purpose of this study was to undertake metric or measurement model as a spatial basis unit to predict flood occurrence. In the present article, in line with using MikeUrban 2019 software, a wide range of tools and quantitative processing steps were used in accordance with the research objectives. In order to predict floods, the past incident factors were studied, namely a review of the principles and operational indicators related to each parcel using the OLI sensor images of Landsat 8 satellite in the year 2020 through the integrated interpretation method and an examination of the basic map of Ilam city in wet seasons (autumn, winter, and spring). Then, the city coverage map was prepared in two uses, i.e., False Color (Urban) and Land / Water. Next, Google Earth images were used to determine the accuracy and precision of the coverage maps. By combining four selected measures with the highest spatial correlation in 50 random points of the city, hexagonal measures with optimal areas were selected and spatial patterns were analyzed. According to the results, in the actual event (1), eight spatial measures with an area of ​​68 hectares and coverage of 1.5% of the entire city are at risk of flood. In events 0.8 and 0.9, 19 measures with an area of ​​170 hectares, 3.6% of the land use coverage of the area, are at potential risk. While there is a high correlation between flood event and type of measure, amount and direction of slope, as well as density and width of road network on one side and drainage network on the other side, in high events (1-8), 28 measures in the residential uses in the detailed design scale with an area of ​​76.5 hectares, barren and enclosed uses with an area of 70.55 hectares, roads network with an area of 29.75 hectares, and parks and green spaces with 17 hectares were identified as the uses targeted by the flood danger. Among all risky user groups, 29.5% were identified in the newly built group, 44.5% in the maintainable group, and 18% in the decayed urban environment group.

The number and population of metropolitan areas have increased significantly during the last century, and in line with the increase in population, improved communications, global trends, and other significant factors, there have been many changes in the spatial development of these areas. These changes are observed in metropolitan areas of Iran during the same period, but there have been a few studies on the changes of these areas in Iran. In this study, the urban land density (U.L.D) function was used to investigate the spatial development trend in Shiraz metropolitan area from 1996-2016. The results show that the Shiraz metropolitan area has experienced a decentralized and scattered spatial form from 1996 to 2016. The pattern of changes in the region's spatial development during the years 1996-2006 and 2006-2016 shows that spatial development has become more decentralized and scattered. According to demographic analysis, the highest population density in 2006, 2011, and 2016 can be seen in the central buffer zone of Shiraz metropolis. Based on directional distribution (standard distance), the population distribution has moved to the northwest of the region. In addition, when analyzing the population distribution pattern, the Moran statistics shows that the region population is distributed in clusters. In general, the decentralized and dispersed spatial form and the formation of population clusters in the region's development process show an imbalance in the region's spatial and demographic development. Some of the significant effects of this phenomenon are urban fragmentation, social segregation, car dependency, and the destruction of agricultural lands and gardens.

The assessment of the ecological potential of the environment is to determine and measure the potential power and the natural use type of the land. Therefore, the environment power assessment is a tool for the management of geographical space and strategic planning for sustainable development and correct use of land sources. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ecological potential of agricultural and rangeland use in Kangavar city with an area of ​​883.9 km2 using Makhdoom ecological model. To this end, the required data and ecological resources were collected and generated. After creating and combining the maps in the ArcGIS system in a multi-hybrid way, the maps of environmental units were constructed and the ecological potential of the area was evaluated using the features of each environmental unit. To do this, the indicators and variables that could be involved in each of these models were examined. To classify the ecological potential of the area for agricultural and rangeland uses and to produce the map of different classes potential, 15 parameters were used as criteria for weighting and measuring the power. The results of Kangavar city ecological potential assessment led to the extraction of 58 environmental units in 7 classes with completely suitable, suitable, weak, and unsuitable power classes for agricultural and rangeland use. An area of about 356.79 Km2 was found to have suitable and completely suitable power for agricultural use. In addition, it was estimated that an area of about 72.23 Km2 would be appropriate for rangeland and rainfed agricultural use with suitable power. An area of about 483.26 Km2 of Kangavar city is currently allocated to agricultural use, while the optimal area for this means is 356.79 Km2. Thus, the land use of an area of about 126.47 Km2 has been converted to agricultural purposes. According to the results, the lands of the region have been exploited more than their potential for agricultural use (irrigated and rainfed) and the lands with rangeland use have been changed to agricultural use.

Hospitals are among the most essential human services whose role in the health of the citizens is very important. One of the important issues related to hospitals in developed cities is determining the optimal location for their construction. In this study, in order to select the optimal hospital location, a combination of expert opinions, GIS, and MCDM was used. For this purpose, 12 criteria were selected for the spatial modeling of the potential areas of hospital establishment, and then the weight of each criterion was calculated using the weighting method of Analytic Network Process (ANP). Then, a map of the potential areas for the hospital establishment was prepared and 11 sites in the potential areas were selected. In the next step, the weight of each criterion was determined again using Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method. Then, by the integration of two weighting methods, i.e., ANP and CRITIC, with two MCDM methods, i.e., EDAS and VIKOR, these sites were ranked. The results of spatial modeling showed that the western half of the district is more suitable for the construction of a new hospital than the other areas. According to the results of the ANP, the distance from hospitals, and according to the results of the CRITIC, the seismic vulnerability were the most important criterions in determining the optimal hospital location. Based on the ranking results coming from CRITIC-EDAS, CRITIC-VIKOR, and ANP-EDAS, the site No. 1, and according to the ranking results of the ANP-VIKOR, the site No. 8 have been the most suitable places for the construction of a new hospital. In the light of the results of the site evaluations by experts, CRITIC-EDAS and CRITIC-VIKOR methods are more accurate for hospital location selection.

Up until now, Islamic Republic of Iran – rising from among people and adopting a religious and divine discourse – has provided a unique model of the administration of people’s affairs in various dimensions through the creation and enhancement of institutions and structures appropriate to its political system. Accordingly, the consideration of ideals in the form of structures, institutions, and approaches is an issue that has a unique role in strengthening the internal structure of this political system. In this article, using the descriptive-analytical method and collecting data through document analysis, library research, and survey methods, city council – as an institution rising from the public vote and a phenomenon similar to local parliament – are defined as the dependent variable. Moreover, in line with the identification of the dimensions and history of these councils, the position of council in Islamic thought is discussed. According to the obtained results, it can be maintained that councils’ importance has four important and effective aspects, namely participation in, distribution of, penetration in, and formation of the identity of power and internal structure strength. To this end, they play roles in four directions, namely strengthening the internal structure cohesion through providing identity to individuals’ roles, enhancing the influence of the Islamic political system in various layers of people and society, fulfilling the maximum participation of people and the role of people in governance, and the just distribution of resources based on reality and the local and national desires. It was found that councils have had greater effectiveness in the fulfillment of maximum participation and involvement of people in governance compared to other directions.

The detection of urban landscape changes in urban areas is of utmost importance for the maintenance of the safety of environment and the promotion of sustainable development. To this end, the consideration of the spatial metrics capabilities to describe the landscape structure can be a valuable move to identify the growth models in metropolises. The purpose of this study was to provide the urban-rural gradient analysis of the landscape metrics in Tehran metropolis in the year 2018 as well as the analysis of their change trend in order to investigate the spatial-chronological changes in the landscape. In order to analyze the metrics, the moving window method was used at landscape and class levels. To this end, Landsat 8 satellite images were used, and the landcover was divided into human-made, open, vegetation, and water lands in a supervised manner. As with the gradient analysis, transects with 4km*4km dimensions at four directions – namely center-northeast, center-southeast, center-northwest, and center-southwest were directed from District 12 of Tehran Municipality in GIS 10.2 software. The results showed that at the landscape level, the closer we go to the business center of Tehran Metropolis, the number and density of patches increase, while the closer we go to rural areas the average index of landscape shape has relatively uniform changes. At the class level, the more distant we get from the business center of Tehran metropolis, the percentage of human-made patches and open lands increases and that of the vegetation patches decreases. Then, it might be concluded that urban development has brought about an increase in the density of patches in landscape, such that in the central transect, the continuity of landscape is reduced, and the fragmentation of the structural elements of landscape is increased. The land use changes have led to the expansion of the city toward the country and have negatively affected the vegetation and water resources.

In the current era, justice and advancement are deemed as the two wings of sustainable development, with each being worthless without the other. As one of the main service systems in cities, public transportation has an important role in the realization of justice. As a result, the purpose of this article was to analyze and rank the 15 districts of Isfahan metropolis based on justice in accessing public transportation. In order to attain this goal, the required data was collected using document analysis and field study (through observation and questionnaire). The Best-Worst (BWM) and COCOSO methods were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that Districts 1 and 3 had the most and Districts 9, 11, and 14 the least public transportation facilities. Moreover, the need to public transportation – in terms of the number of users – was highest in Districts 8 and 10 and lowest in Districts 2, 9, and 11. The combination of these two factors also showed that Districts 1, 2, 3, and 15 had bigger facility to user ratios, while Districts 8, 10, 11, and 14 had smaller facility to user ratios. In the other districts, the facility to user ratio was mainly moderate. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to this gap between facilities and users’ needs when planning for public transportation in future.